Holtby moly! Bears goalie shuts out WBS, 2-0

Hershey goaltender Braden Holtby earned his third shutout in five games, blanking the Penguins.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton s Brian Strait and goaltender Jeff Zatkoff lose sight of a shot by Hershey s Garrett Mitchell (not pictured), which found the back of the net for a 1-0 first-period lead. Also pictured is the Bears Ryan Potulny. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JEREMY LONG)

HERSHEY - One early miscue made all the difference for the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night.

Backed by another brilliant performance by goalie Braden Holtby, the opportunistic Bears blanked Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-0 at Giant Center. The victory gives Hershey sole possession of third place in the AHL's East Division and its fifth victory over the Baby Penguins in six meetings this season.

"It's been better than years past, that's for sure," said Holtby, who earned star of the game honors for his 33-save shutout - his fourth of the season and third in his last five starts. "Our system must work well against theirs. That usually happens throughout the year, you have one or two teams you play really well against and a couple that you don't."

Forwards Garrett Mitchell and Jeff Taffe lit the lamp for Hershey, which improved its record to 15-13-1-1. Mitchell gave the hosts a 1-0 lead 3:56 into the first period, and Taffe's empty-netter eliminated any drama with 47.1 seconds left in regulation.

"We wanted to get off to a good start. We did a good job on our forecheck control, and that's when they stopped behind the net," said Hershey head coach Mark French. "We did a good job executing on that and creating the opportunity. And it's nice to see for 'Mitch,' he's a guy who is always a hard worker, so it's nice to see him get rewarded."

Potulny plucked the puck from WBS defenseman Ben Strait and fired a rocket at Zatkoff, who could not control the rebound.

Mitchell quickly corralled the loose rebound, beating Zatkoff (18 saves on 22 shots) for his sixth goal of the year and third against the Baby Pens.

Meanwhile, the ice beneath red-hot Holtby remained frozen enough for him to register his third shutout in the past five games. Making his seventh straight start, he turned away 33 shots to improve his personal record to 12-9-1.

"To get a shutout, like I said before, your team has to play very well 'cause there's so many bounces that usually go in that you can't control," Holtby said. "They hit two posts tonight that always help. We were just lucky to come out on the better side of the shutout."

The visitors finished the first period with a 13-12 edge in shots and ended the night with a 33-20 advantage. The teams combined for just 11 shots in a lackluster second period.

The Bears, specifically, went into hibernation during the second stanza, failing to generate a shot for the first 16:48 of the frame. Stanislav Galiev finally unleashed a slap shot on net with 3:10 remaining, and Boyd Kane followed with a backhanded on the rebound to end the drought.

"It seems to be a little bit of a different thing every night," added French. "We've had some games that have been higher scoring games, and we've had some games that have been tight and some games that have had some disparity in the score.

"Tonight was, I don't think, our best effort. ... It wasn't out best effort; we had a very good goaltending effort."

In the third, the Baby Penguins continued to apply steady pressure despite not being able to net the equalizer. The Bears' penalty kill unit also continued to shine as WBS came up empty on a half-dozen chances Wednesday. As a whole, Hershey has killed off 19 consecutive power plays dating back to Worcester's third-period goal on Dec. 15.

"Our PK's been doing well lately," said Cameron Schilling. "We were sort of struggling there at the beginning of the season, but we're kind of clicking now, though. Holts helps obviously stopping key shots, but we've really been trying to focus on the PK. It's a big part of our team and a big part of winning."

The Bears return home Saturday to play Albany at 7 p.m. in the final game at Giant Center in 2012. Hershey picked up its first home win of the season with a 3-0 victory over the Devils on Oct. 27. Holtby made 35 saves to register the shutout, and Zach Hamill netted the game-winning goal.

"(Holtby's) in a zone. I don't know if I've seen in it in my pro career to be honest," added Potulny. "When a goalie's in a zone like that, I think it's best if you just leave him be and whatever he's doing, let him keep doing it.

"He's on his game, you can tell in pre-game skate and practice. Things are clicking. And it's hard work for him. He's working hard to get better every day, and we can see that as players."

Notes: The Bears scratched Matt Clackson, Garrett Stafford and Mike Carman (illness), along with injured players Jonathon Kalinski, Dmitry Orlov, Ryan Stoa and T.J. Syner. ... The Bears are 6-3-0-1 in December. ... Wednesday's contest marked the 142nd all-time meeting against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey holds an all-time mark of 71-60-11. ... The Bears finished 5-5-1-1 against WBS in the regular season last year before falling to the Baby Penguins in Game 5 of the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs. ... Defenseman Brett Flemming was reassigned from Reading earlier in the day but did not dress. ... Defenseman Tomas Kundratek celebrated his 23rd birthday on Wednesday. ... Attendance was listed at 10,162 although not nearly that many showed up due to the inclement weather.